Mobile Computing, gardening and occassional fishing strategies

I have a big complaint with much of the search technology used for streaming media and other sites.. To put it simply, it’s just not very smart.

Unless it’s gets a lot smarter, any PC maker who is betting any part of the future on PCs as entertainment could lose their table stakes.

I{n an ideal world, any search engine that I use to locate an online episode of PBS’s Nova series should correctly assume I'm interested in science or technology programming and initially make deep recommendations based to my searches. It’s improbable that any search feature could satisfy my pent up demand on the first try.But believe that after I’ve used it for awhile, it should be able to meet my pent up expectations.

There are more search recommendation engines that fail than succeed. Surprisingly, NetFLix recommendations just don’t cut it in my world. And don’t even get me started on Spotify, whose recommendations don’t even come close to what expect in a streaming audio site.

But, there are some services that show promise. Apple Itunes’ Genius feature is one example. To make a point, Genius is the only service I’ve stumbled on that correctly predicted that I might be interested in the music of the Los Angeles band Hiroshima because I have downloaded music from fusion guitarists Larry Carlton and Robben Ford.

how smart does search have to be to understand the names of musician/sidemen who accompany a featured player and then recommend selections from those artists?

I think the answer is “not very smart.”

Google’s YouTube is another great example of a site with above average search in the streaming media entertainment category, YouTube is the only site that produces search results that are contextually linked to topics. Examples of this include my deep interest in California Gold mining. After searching for documentaries on dry lands gold propecting, YouTube delivered amature footage detailing of how an avocational prospector made a gold discovery about 200 miles from my house. The YouTube Search engine also works very well when it comes to semantic search results.

Despite the overpowering dominance of Google Search, which has been made more powerful by Semantic Search technologies,, I believe there is still a lot of money for entrepreneurs to mine in search engine technology.

Reality listing is a classic example. I want badly to move to the Sacramento CA region -- where housing is still quite affordable and I would really love to use my veteran’s house loan to buy a small house with a dock on the Sacramento River.

Given the price of housing, you might assume real estate listing services would want an engine that delivers lists of available properties in response to specific queries such as “Home For Sale Sacramento RIver with dock.”

Unfortunately only one service has responded to my query with a specific property.

but I’m still hopeful and believe improved search technology is ight around the corner. If not, I’m pre approved for a zero down VA loan at two and fraction percent interest.

And that leaves me with enough money to buy boat 3.0 to tie to my very own dock on California’s Mother river.-- Jim Forbes on August 15, 2013.

Subject: Opt-in,Opt-Out and My Willingness to use a HatchetWhen Reviewing

I”ve agreed to test a lot of new software in the last three decades. Mostly, it’s been a rewarding experience.

When a new company asks me to participate in the testing of anew application or service, I take the challenge seriously and I try to be as honest as possible about my experiences with the application—or hardware. In fact I make a point of testing applications on what I define as “my everyday machine” or in “common usage scenarios” when I agree to test something.

I am intensely interested in several emerging categories ofapplications. Some of these include note taking (or outlining), mobile commerceand consumer group conferencing applications, web-based office productivity and other packages.

I recognize most new software developers don’t have deep pockets and are under enormous pressure from investors to initiate revenue streams. Unfortunately some developers have resorted to partnerships with bloatware providers to trickle coins into their purses.

If someone agrees to test any company’s software, the developer should never assume they are also explicitly agreeing to install some lame ass, second string search toolbar dredged up from the Nineties. I’m perfectly happy using Google or Microsoft Bing.

Moreover, many of my primary apps are video intensive, so I do not want to waste valuable memory assets with some silly software that was selected for extinction by consumers 14 years ago.

My recent experience with a consumer video sharing application is one example. I installed the host based kernel and bigger than life, an Ask.com toolbar obnoxiously attached itself to some of my primary apps. Damn it! If I wanted to use Ask.com, I’d consciously install it. Not directly asking my permission to install it is a violation of my trust. And that’s something that makes me questionthe competence and integrity of a company’s management all the way up to its Board of Directors.

I absolutely hate bloatware in all its sundry forms. My computer is my property and I deliberately choose how and what programs I install and use. Because I agree to test an application doesn’t mean I’m opting to also use a dinosaur from Computing’s Triassic age. In fact, all three of themost recent problems I’ve had with my computer have been caused by bloatware that’s accompanied new software I’m testing.

Opt-in,Opt-Out is an ongoing marketing strategy, yet again.

SO here’s the deal, I will savage any application that doesn’t allow me to easily opt-out of companion installations. Given the maturity of technology, any assumption by a developer that my testing of a program constitutes an axiomatic agreement that I’m opting in forces me to question asoftware company’s understanding of its user base. And when I go down that road,I am forced to look at the experience of that company’s management, its board of directors and all its investors.

My screed isn’t limited to software. Once again, bloatware has become a huge problem in hardware.

I have a nicely keened Fiskars hatchet I’m willing to use on any product that violates my beliefs in opt--in, opt-out. I also have a strong hand that’s willing to use that edged instrument.—Jim Forbes on 12/07/2012.

Demo 2012 was a little like watching a road being revealed in the bright light of high powered quartz halogen high beams – what’s unveiled by the light is sometimes overlooked the casual observers

Up front, I need to disclose I have strong opinions about Demo. I produced Demo branded events and interviewed thousands of companies in conjunction with this family of technology showcases.

There was a lot to see and experience at Demo 2012 last month. More than 1,000 attendees saw about 70 companies with new consumer, business and enterprise technologies. What was shining brightly in Demo’s hi beams was CNBC business reporter John Fortt’s interview with Intuit’s CEO, Brad Smith.

Fortt was at the top of his game. His interview of Smith completely reversed my somewhat negative view of conference Q&A sessions. It was the best CEO interview I’ve seen at a conference since the days of Stuart Alsop’s legendary one-on-ones with Bill Gates at the Agenda Conferences.

Fortt’s preparation for his one on one with Smith was stunning. By the time his segment ended, I fully understood what drove Intuit’s usability efforts and had new insight into the company’s intrapreneurial and external acquisition strategies. Frankly, I’m surprised Intuit’s executive management hasn’t been selected for any executive technology show case one-on-one conversation before now. This veteran technology company is literally the 10,000 pound gorilla that dominates a large part of the Silicon Valley jungle.

The CNBC correspondent’s Q&A with Brad Smith illuminates the uneven nature of most conference panels. When a discussion leader and panelists prepare for their discussions and are not allowed to venture into self-serving pitches on portfolio companies, panels can provide attendees withdeep insight into emerging trends or real market opportunities. And ultimately it’s up to an event’s producer to map out their expectations on the purpose of the panel.

After sitting through two presentations by companies with technologies that enhance the important of geotags I understand that there are still major opportunities in mining metadata information. GeoTrex—which lets organizations push enhance content to patrons’ smart phones and tablets based on their physical location in a facility appears to have good commercial potential and fulfills an underserved need. This company did the one thing that helps to validate a Demo stage presentations— a customer endorsement. GeoTrex’s first installation is Midwestern zoo that uses the technology to provide visitors with additional information on its animals or exhibits.

As a San Diego zoo and Los Angeles Museum of Science and Industry patron, I immediately understood why some organizations should adopt GeoTrex’s technology.

ShareWith911.com was an alpha startup at Demo 2012 with a Geotag related technology. The idea driving this Chesapeake Bay Area company is the capability to send photos taken with camera phones of scenes where emergency services are needed to a centralized site that’s designed to be accessed by emergency dispatchers.

If the idea sets off alarms in your head that this might be too much information, settle down. It’s not. Moreover, ShareWith 911.com does something that’s not been done before and provides several pieces of critical information needed by emergency responders—the physical location of an accident scene and mixed media (graphics and text)—that increases first responders’ situational awareness. But what really impressed me about this startup was a feature that extracts and displays the geotag data in about one second.

ShareWith 911.com came to Demo2012 via a partnership with StartupAmerica. This demonstrator’s technology may seem to have a small market, but the technology comes at a time when the federal government is pumping millions of dollars into first response agencies nationwide. Moreover, this is exactly the type of application that providers of computerized automatic dispatch systems can use to differentiate their products or make them more appealing and useful to law enforcement, fire departments and other services who serve rural areas with landmarks or mile markers that are not apparent to 911 callers.

There were sveral pother Demo2012 companies and tends I want to spotlight in tomorrow’s post—jim Forbes May 9, 2012.

As a result of opening my eyes and agreeing to come in from the cold in the last month, I’ve had a long standing view of two organizations completely upended.

There was a time in my life when I didn’t talk much about the fact that I was a Marine Corps veteran who served at Khe Sanh and Hue at a time when both places were battlegrounds. I wasn’t ashamed of my service; in fact I’ve come to realize that it had a profound impact on my life; some good and some bad.

Very few people I worked with during my early days covering technology in Silicon Valley knew I had been in the Marines and fewer still knew I had been at Khe Sanh and elsewhere in South Vietnam long ago.

I didn’t hang out with other veterans and I had resisted joining either of the two most well-known veteran’s organizations.

I used one very few part of my veteran’s benefits’I went to college on the GI Bill. And in 1971 I went to a VA clinic to see a doctor, an experience that soured me on the VA for many years.

But my life has changed recently and I wanted to find out more about my veteran’s benefits. And my quest led me to a local American Legion post here in Escondido where several members pointe me to the VA and made sure I knew what to do to take action. So I joined the American Legion and I use it as a “club house” of sorts. Whenever I need to socialize an can get away from my duties around the house, I pop up to the Legion, read a book and have a Coke in the patio.

Over a soft drink one of the officers of my local Legion Post patiently explained to me how the VA worked, plus how much it had changed in the last 30 years. He provided me with the information I needed to make a VA enrollment appointment at a local clinic and patiently explained that Legion volunteers were on hand at the two largest clinics here in San Diego County and there job was to help guide me through the VA’s organization.

So I had my first appointment with the VA today, had my picture taken for a VA ID card and was incredibly surprised by the experience. I waited two minutes for my appointment, was courteously treated by an enrollment officer who made the point of telling me “we’re here to help you.”

I quickly outlined the three service-related reasons I wanted to enroll with the VA:

I believe long term exposure to incoming and outgoing artillery caused permanent hearing loss in both of ears;

I think that as a result of having been in a bunker that took a direct hit from an incoming North Vietnamese artillery round, I have profound claustrophobia—aka PTSD;

Most of all, I was exposed to Agent Orange at least three times during the time I was in Vietnam.

I’ve always felt slightly ashamed about going to the VA with this. However, the enrolling agent at the clinic set me up with the appointments I need to get the ball rolling, and, he made sure I understood I should feel no shame for seeking help from the VA.

I’ve never felt more satisfied with any government agency interaction than I have with the VA clinic in Oceanside, CA.

Wow, they just knocked my socks off.

And it all started with the simple act of spending $35 to join a local American Legion post and asking for help from other veterans who had been in my shoes.

After a lot of years, I’m beginning to understand what it means to have been thanked for my service and to really have been “welcomed home.”-- Jim Forbes April 4, 2012.

A good all-in-one computer needs to offer a balanced user experience. Ideally, that includes above average video, crisp audio and above more than enough performance for everyday computing chores

Gateway’s ZX 4600-01 meets and exceeds the requirements for a good all-in-one desktop while establishing a new low price point.

Built around a 20-inch multi-touch technology (diagonal) screen, the newest member of the pioneering Gateway ZX line offers a great close-in user experience.

The system supplied tp me for this review was a standard Windows 7 Hone Professional configuration: AMD Athlon II dual core 2.35GHz CPU, 4GB of DDR memory, a roomy 640 GB hard disk drive and an ATI Radion 4270 graphics subsystem. This new Gateway all-in-one is now available Now at some national retailers for as little at $69500, a new low price point for a touch-enabled desktop. A multi speed DVD burner, webcam, and integrated networking are also standard on this system.

I like the multi-touch display on the newest Gateway ZX a lot. Although the graphics subsystem used on the ZX is a mainstay of mobile computing (it has a maximum resolution of 1600 by 900 pixels), the ATI 4270 has enough horsepower for nearly all everyday user experiences.

The audio subsystem on the ZX isn’t likely to be a factor in hearing loss, but it’s more than good enough to do justice to anyone’s music collection—including my two-plus gigs of “musica de los hermanos, Allman y Doobies.”

One of the things that sets Gateway’s all-in-one apart from others makers is its THX Trustudio audio subsystem and its use of the glass in front of the display panel to project sound. I like this unit’s audio subsystem a great deal because of its excellent tonal fidelity. But if you really want to damage you’re hearing, I suggest adding external speakers to this rig.

All-in-one desktops share design philosophy with portable computers: the user is right in front of the screen. As importantly, the out of the box experience needs to be exceptional. Gateway’s ZX 4600-01 offers a great out of the box experience, and I doubt anyone who buys this system will need to spend more than 10 minutes bringing it online. Its integrated wireless transceiver is sensitive enough to locate and remain attached to wireless network access points located in distant rooms and it’s six USB ports should be more than enough for anyone.

I like the fit and finish of this system and its clean overall design.

The ZX4600-01’s performance is substantially above average and its 640 GB hard disk is fast and has enough storage capacity to meet most users’ immediate and future needs. Judged overall, the newest Gateway All-in-one desktop is a solid performer packed full of features found more commonly on much more expensive machines. I recommend it—Jim Forbes 08/29/2010

What I think is most important about slate computing is in Dave’s post—he technology will drive touch interface into the mainstream.If you haven’t yet added Dave Churbuck to your regular blog reads do so now. He’s insightful, often spew coffee or milk-out-of your-nose-funny, and no one does a better job of writing sbout stalking the crafty Quahog clam.Give him a read, now!. Do it for the clamming coverage.—Jim Forbes on 2/24/2010.

In between bouts of weeding my two vegetable gardens and preemptively fighting leaf curl on my Avalon peach trees, I read a lot. My goal is to read two books a week. And while much of what I read is to prepare me for a book project I want to begin later this year, I remain intrigued by books attempting to link business practices with social media and customer-centric marketing.

I was deep into blogger/communications consultant Brian Solis’ new book, Engage, when I came across this month’s Atlantic Magazine, which has an all-too brief article on the business practices of the Grateful Dead. Written by the Atlantic’s Joshua Green, the piece is a must read for anyone who is professionally or personally involved in using social media to engage customers. Green suggests that in the age of customer centric marketing and direct connections with consumers, many businesses could benefit from how the Dead engaged its fans/customers. He also believes that the Dead Archives—which are at the University of California, Santa Cruz’ campus could be mined for future marketing books.

Green’s examples of how the Dead directly engaged its customers and profited from that experience is a good tale. More importantly it beats just about anything I’ve read recently that’s been written by any of the self-anointed social media gurus.

Despite a price tag that keeps it beyond reach of many US consumers, I remain a big fan if wireless broadband networking.

My ardor for this form of connectivity has grown appreciably as close friends and even I have migrated out of dense population centers to rural America—where high speed cable or DSL Internet connectivity isn’t available or financially feasible for many households.

High speed connectivity is assumed by most PC manufacturers and virtually all entrepreneurs working to bring new products to market. But their product planning is often essentially flawed: they assume that every member of their target market has access to high speed, persistent, Internet connectivity.

I’ve seen little evidence to suggest that high speed internet broadband connectivity is inexpensive enough for the mass market

I was without consistent Internet connectivity here in CO my first three weeks on the cold earth of the Rocky’s Front Range. Most of my neighbors all have secure WiFI networks so I became a public library WiFi user. Anecdotally, I noticed a lot of other people who rely on the Brighton, Colorado’s, public library robust and ultra reliable WiFi network. A surprising number of them are like myself—retired professionals who live outside the subscriber areas for cable or DSL service.

But all is not lost and I’ve found a reliable solution that works for me in rural Denver, Cricket’s wireless network.

In case you didn’t know it, Cricket Communications is a Qualcomm wireless venture. They provide voice/ texting for a flat monthly rate and have very good coverage here in the west. But more importantly, they are also building out a substantial broadband network and it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg per month.

Cricket’s broadband network isn’t the fastest in the world and as of now—although they advertise 3G speeds --and there are gaping holes in its geographic coverage.

But, they have taken their products to a nationwide outlet that has the depth to drive broadband networking. That outlet is WalMart. Imagine my surprise at 8:30 one Pre-Thanksgiving night as I was picking up towels for my spare bathroom as well as 12-foot length of USB 2.0 cable, and discovered a Cricket USB broadband modem in the electronics’ department display case. I was even more surprised when the clerk satisfactoriliy explained, pricing and usage.

The price-- $40 a month-- was appropriate for a consumer market device and Cricket’s network signup couldn’t be easier. Cricket’s decision to use WalMart as a retail partner is very smart. Whatever your feelings about WalMart, its success and product pull, plus consumer exposure are the stuff of business success case studies.

The Cricket/WalMart distribution strategy is bound to be closely followed in the coming months.

And less you instantly dismiss it’s potential, it‘s useful to remember that the personal computer revolution got its start in an Albuquerque, NM, strip mall.

I think a humble partnership between WalMart and Cricket could be a force that galvanizes broadband networking. All that’s needed now is a domestic success story for Intel’s WiMax long range wireless networking.

in two weeks I was struck by how fortunate I’ve been to have found a great realtor who understands interstate moves from a home buyers’ view point.

In my case I was given a recommendation for a realtor named Rovena Flores at Colorado Homes, a Caldwell Banker brokerage in Westminister,CO.

I’ve been pretty specific about my requirements for a new home and unlike many other realtors I’ve dealt with here in CA, Rovena took the time to understand what I was looking for, and that because I take care of my 91 year old mother, I had some pretty specific requirements.

Ms Flores did a lot of prescreening for me, which completely eliminated my looking at houses that obviously didn’t meet my needs or which were priced beyond my housing budget.

I made my selection based on an Internet listing, Ms Flores’ and a quick inspection by an old trusted friend who lives in

Brighton, CO.

After listening to the reports and reading the Realtors’ summary of her walk-throughs, I loaded Ma Forbes in my shiny new red Kia Soul ( aka the hamster van) and hit I-15 to Cedar City, Utah, where we hooked a right on I-70 to Denver, arriving at my the house in Brighton, COless than 24 hours after I left Southern California.

The house was much more than I expected and has a master bedroom with ensuite bath for MaForbes, a half-acre fenced back yard with raised vegetable beds and a nice fox-proof vacant chicken coop. Looking west from my front porch I have a nice view of the

Rockies a

nd a neighbor’s wonderfully eclectic collection of 19th and early 20th Century farm implements.

My new place is rural and somewhere on my street is a vocal mule that I’m looking forward to meeting.

Oh and I have a huge finished walk-in basement with two bedrooms, an office and a den I plan on turning into a home theater.

With one minor exception caused by a clerical error—a one digit mistake in my social security number on my DD214-- made by someone at the Bureau of Naval Records, the dreaded mortgage process has been a walk-in the park. This has been the easiest home purchase I’ve ever experienced and I believe it’s due largely to my realtor, Rovena Flores at Colorado Homes and my mortgage banker, John Weller and his staff at MegaStar Financial in

Denver

. I just wish my entire previous home buying experiences had been this good.

The short answer to the question “Why Colorado?” is this: I like the state, its people and its universities.And in the near future I intend on taking some graduate western states history and creative writing classes. My roots in

Colorado

are incredibly deep, my father and his siblings were born in the tiny Western slope town of

Saguache

, CO, and my maternL grandfather spent much of his youth in

Cripple Creek

. My love of western history, trout fishing, and writing were whetted by their experiences.-- Jim “Go East Young Man” Forbes on 10/19/2009.

Great customer service binds customers to brands, even when a customer contacts a company with a problem that has only one logical outcome: returning a product and getting a credit reversed.

Last week I ordered a system from a popular web retailer, unpacked the system, plugged it in and grew more disappointed with it at the end of several small tasks.

I waited until this morning to contact the seller, and was fully prepared for a less-than joyous outcome.

Imagine how surprised I was when I was able to get an RMA number online, and then rapidly get connected to a “representative” who explained how and when my account would be credited for the return, taking less than three minutes to answer all of my questions.

Start to finish, the entire transaction lasted less than five minutes. I expected the vendor’s rep would go out of their way to try and stop me from returning the system, but that simply wasn’t the case. They wanted to make sure I was satisfied with my transaction.

Imagine that?

My take away from the experience is simple: Tiger Direct realizes that providing a positive customer experience at any point in the transaction chain -- no matter what the connection medium-- keeps customers coming back.

Way to go Tiger Direct! You provide a customer experience that’s as good on your website as it is in a one-on-one phone call with a rep at a call center in South Florida.

Now if only more companies paid the same attention to customer service details.—Jim Forbes, 03/23/2008.